Help! No idea what monitor to buy

benwest3

benwest3

benwest3

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26 Dec 2015
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Hi, i really have no idea what monitor to buy.
I have a budget of £200.
I would like a 27" monitor.
I have a Zotac GTX 970 graphics card
I play a lot of games, i like pretty things....
Any suggestions & supporting reasons would be much appreciated :)
Thanks!
 
Why 27"? 27" is just too big for 1080p to look nice; £200 is just too low for 1440p, with the AOC 1440p at £220. Your GTX 970 is perfectly capable of driving a 1440p monitor.

Anyway, if gaming is your primary use then you'll want a TN display for the fast refresh and response; if it's porn pretty things you'll want IPS or VA for the improved colour.
 
Ok, well i picked 27" as a nice upgrade from my current 22". Anything bigger seemed out of budget.
Gaming should be the primary concern. Not other past times :)
Is this AOC 1440p recommended then?
Thanks for your help.
 
While indeed yes, TN is "better" for gaming, this mostly applies only to professional FPS gamers, who are willing to sacrifice in other areas, just to get the last milliseconds in pixel response times. For regular gamers who actually like image quality, the TN simply isn't worth the compromises. It's basically gaining 10% in ONE area, and losing 30% in ALL the others.

Also, if you're not going for 144Hz, then you lose half of the TN benefit, which was already small, to begin with. And if going for 144Hz, the cheapest 27" 144Hz TN is £280. If you add £20 more, you could get the Acer XZ271Q for £300, which is quite similar, except it has a curved VA panel and FreeSync. Which in turn is something I would highly recommend, though. Just yesterday I got its big brother XZ321Q, and let me tell you: it's phenomenal (gonna have to make a review during the weekend).

As for the 27" and 1080p:
Whether 27" is too big for 1080p is an individual matter, depending on the user's eye sight and viewing distance. I just recently got a 32" 1080p screen (XZ321Q, like stated above), and overall, I think it's great. But personally, I actually find it a little too small. 1440p would have been a total disaster for me. Previously I had a 42" HDTV (1080p), which I found just right for a 1m viewing distance. Furthermore, with 1080p you'll get higher frame rates, or alternatively you can crank up the detail settings and anti-aliasing levels.

Anyway, if you want to keep the budget and 27", then there are these non-TN options, just to name a few:
Acer KA270HBID for £150 (pre-order)
Acer KA270H for £150 (this one is older, out of stock, not sure if there's any major difference to the above model...?)
BenQ GW2760HS for £180 (I've recommended this in the past, never heard a bad word back -- but indeed, this model is from 2013, so it's getting old)
Samsung C27F390 for £210 (similar to the XZ271Q, but only 60Hz)

Conclusion:
If you can stretch the budget to £300 (I know, it's a 50% budget increase...), then I would recommend the Acer XZ271Q. But, if you want to keep the budget, then I would recommend the Samsung C27F390.
 
I game on a 27" tn 144hz 1080p gsync monitor and find it GREAT! quality is amazing and don't understand why people say 27" is no good for 1080p, also modern tn panels like my acer predator xb271h have really good colour accuracy compared to older tn panels, infact I find my picture quality, contrast and colour a lot better on this monitor than my other ips panel
 
The dots per inch of a 1080P 27" panel is awful. Once you've used a higher res panel you'll never be able to look at a 1080P 27" panel and think it looks great.
 
Minstadave said:
The dots per inch of a 1080P 27" panel is awful. Once you've used a higher res panel you'll never be able to look at a 1080P 27" panel and think it looks great.
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once you have used a higher res you wont be able to look at any 1080p panel and think its great lol but that's not the point, if you are only used to 1080p then 27" looks great at 1080p, obviously it will look better on some monitors compared to others depending on quality but to say it looks awful is just untrue :)
 
syks said:
once you have used a higher res you wont be able to look at any 1080p panel and think its great lol but that's not the point, if you are only used to 1080p then 27" looks great at 1080p, obviously it will look better on some monitors compared to others depending on quality but to say it looks awful is just untrue :)
Click to expand...

Ok it looks awful unless you're substantially visually impaired.
 
james_2k said:
yeah but hes used to 1080p at 22", at 27 it wont even slightly look as sharp.
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mmmm yes it may look sharper on his smaller screen..but.., my brother is currently gaming on a 21" 1080p led Samsung tv but his overall picture quality etc is rubbish compared to my 27" monitor, after playing bf4 on my screen then going back to his he said he couldn't take it no more so is ordering a 27" 1440p screen (he always has to go one better than me lol) but he even said overall quality on my screen was much better than his

it dosnt just come down to size of screen as different makes etc have a different look, you have to take into account contrast/colour/brightness and sharpness as all these things are what make picture quality good :)

I'm not saying that 27" monitors at 1080p are better than say 1080p 24" monitors but I'm saying that they don't look awful and some 27" monitors even look damn good at 1080p if your not used to a higher res
 
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Minstadave said:
Ok it looks awful unless you're substantially visually impaired.
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why do you have to come across with your passive aggressive type comment? were you bullied at school or do you feel that your somewhat of an inferior human being that you need to be smart over the internet? lol

my eyesight is actually EXCELLENT! at my last eye check at specsavers I was told I have the eyesight of a fighter pilot lol :D
 
One thing I should remind everyone about:
VIEWING DISTANCE!!

Looking at a 24" 1080p screen from a 24" distance (1x the diagonal) will look IDENTICAL to looking at a 42" 1080p screen from a 42" distance (again, 1x the diagonal). And it will indeed look identical to looking at a 1 mile diagonal 1080p screen from a 1 mile distance (assuming clear weather and unobstructed view to the screen).

Disclaimer:
There's one thing to keep in mind, though: with the larger screens, your head's movement will have less of an impact on your eyes' field of vision. So, if we're going to the smaller extreme, looking at a 5" 1080p screen from a 5" distance, the default view will be the same, but if you move your head 2" to the side, your other eye will have trouble focusing on the screen. If we go even closer than this, then the distance between the eyes will start to have a profound impact on the view. That's because "the image" that your individual eyes will see will begin to differ greatly, and the brain has to combine them in a different manner. Then again, if you use two identical 2" 1080p screens from a 2" distance, one for each eye, then the view will again be identical to the bigger sizes/distances.
 
Most =/= all. For example, I had my previous monitor at 1m (3.3ft) distance. The new one is at 0.75m (~2.5ft) distance.

Are you also aware of the viewing distance recommendations? Bare minimum is 1x diagonal, recommendation is 1.5x diagonal. Human vision has a certain "cone" in their field of view where the "image" is clear. When you move closer to the screen, your cone has less information inside it, and relatively more on the peripheral vision. This results in two things: first, you'll have to start moving your eyes more, to change to cone's placement. Second, when you move even closer, you'll have to start following the focus with your head, as well. If you're gaming, you can only focus on the middle of the action, but if you have to start "browsing" to the edges, you'll at the same time lose focus on the middle.

And in case of TN panels, this also brings problems with the TN color inversion, and you'll soon see that the edges and corners will start to have distorted colors, the closer you get to the screen.

So, if the OP already has his 22" monitor at 1-1.5x diagonal distance (56-84cm / 1.8-2.8ft), then he should consider moving the 27" monitor slightly farther (69-103cm / 2.3-3.4ft). After all, the jump from 22" to 27" is tangible, he shouldn't keep the same distance. Unless the monitor was too far, to begin with, like 2x the diagonal distance.
 
Wow, thanks for all the replies, it might help if i provide a bit more information! My current monitor i bought new about 6 or 7 years ago (Samsung T220 22" monitor) i dont even think this is real 'HD'?
I have this on my desk which i game at so it sits about 60cm from me. give or take.
I mostly play Elite Dangerous at the moment, Tomb Raider, Planet Coaster etc. When time permits :)
 
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